An Enormous Box
by foolofatook001
Summary: In which Kel, the Riders, and the Own pull a prank at Raoul and Buri's wedding. Kel/Dom if you squint. Oneshot.


"Kel!" _shouted Neal. "Are you going to dream all day? She's waiting for me!"_

 _Lovers, Kel thought, rolling her eyes. At least there was one headache she_ didn't _have. She was about to tell her friend that she could wait when she remembered she'd get to see Dom at Steadfast. It would be nice to be able to sit and chat without kidnapping, flight, and war to distract them._

 _She nudged Hoshi into a trot._

o0o

"Congratulations," Kel told Raoul and Buri after the ceremony. "You'll never have to attend court functions alone again, my lord," she joked.

Raoul laughed, a loud bark of a laugh that cut through the noise of the wedding reception in the background. "The thought had occurred to me, Kel," he told her with a grin.

"That's the reason he wanted to get married so quickly," Buri added wickedly, digging an elbow into her husband's side.

"One of them," Raoul replied. As the receiving line behind Kel began to grow, he clapped her on the shoulder. "Enjoy yourself, Keladry," he said, black eyes twinkling.

"By your command, my lord," Kel replied with a grin. She left the happy couple and made her way to the mess, where a banquet had been prepared and many guests had found their way already. To one side she spotted Neal and Yuki chatting with Merric; the Yamani girl had one arm possessively around Neal's waist. Neal didn't seem to mind. Near them stood Lord Wyldon, with Owen in attendance; Owen caught Kel's eye and gave her an exuberant wave, earning himself a quelling look from his knight-master. Owen's Ordeal was this winter, and Kel could hardly believe it - where was the irrepressible and excitable first-year page she'd met not so long ago?

There was a tug on her sleeve, and she looked down to see Tobe.

"I found 'em as you were wishful of seein', milady," he told her big eyes serious.

"Them who?" Kel asked. Surely she couldn't have been that obvious about looking for Dom's squad.

"Them bein' the prince and princess, Lady. Didn't you want t' see them?"

"Yes, Tobe, I did," Kel said, smothering a sigh of relief. "Thank you." She made her way across the room to the prince and princess.

After talking to her friends for a while, Kel made a circuit of the room. There was no sign of Dom anywhere - or any of his squad, for that matter. Maybe they were on patrol.

"Lady Kel! Over here!" someone hissed from a hallway to her left. Kel glanced over to see one of Dom's men beckoning her over.

Or maybe they _weren't_ on patrol. She followed the man down the hallway.

"Lady, we need your help," the man explained, once they were somewhat removed from the mess hall. "Sergeant Domitan and Commander Larse and some of the other lads were wanting to play a joke on my lord and Commander Buri, so they've got at least six of them in this enormous box that's wrapped as a gift. Only - well, they wanted you, too, Lady Kel, seeing as you were my lord's squire and the one what got the two of them together in the first place - "

"Excuse me?" Kel interrupted.

"Lord Raoul himself credits you for it, Lady. Will you do it?"

"Hide in a box that's to be wrapped and presented as a gift for my lord Raoul and Buri. With Dom and Commander Larse and some of the other lads," Kel repeated slowly.

"That's it exactly, Lady," Dom's man said, patiently. "But if you're going to do it, you'd best do it quick, because they'll be going in to open gifts soon enough."

"Why not," Kel said decisively. "But first, let me tell Tobe what I'm up to."

"Thank you, Lady," the man said, grinning.

o0o

"Now how am I supposed to get in there?" Kel said, peering into the box - which was indeed enormous. Even so, she didn't see how they were going to fit six men and _her_ into it.

"Just climb in, Kel," Dom called in a teasing tone from the corner where he sat, knees up to his chest, blue eyes sparkling with laughter. "Didn't they teach you anything in knight school?"

"They taught me plenty," Kel retorted, grinning at him. "I just don't want to squash any of you when I get in."

"Budge over, boys," Commander Larse ordered. "Make room for the lady knight."

As if by magic, a spot opened up as the men squeezed tighter together and made room for Kel.

"This is cozy," she remarked, keeping her Yamani face on. She was sitting shoulder to shoulder with Dom and it was doing mad things to her heart rate. Her knees were pulled in tight to her chest and she was already rather uncomfortable. "How long do we have to do this?"

"Oh, ten minutes at the most," one of the Riders said, as the lid was placed loosely over the top of the box and it became totally dark.

"Ten minutes," Kel repeated. "This better be worth it."

"But Kel, just imagine my lord's face when we all pop out of the box," Dom said. Kel could hear the laughter in his voice. She chuckled as well, leaning her head back against the side of the box and closing her eyes. The men talked quietly amongst themselves.

"Hush," said Dom's man on the outside after several minutes. "They're coming in to open gifts." The box fell silent, the feeling changing from bored waiting to gleeful anticipation. The room was suddenly filled with the murmur of voices.

"What's this?" Lord Raoul asked. Evidently he had spotted the tremendous box.

"A gift for you and Commander Buri, my lord, from the Riders and the Own," Dom's man replied.

"Everyone ready," Evin Larse whispered. The box lid opened fractionally -

"CONGRATULATIONS!" they roared, leaping to their feet and knocking the lid completely off the box. Kel met Neal's startled green eyes from across the room and grinned. Lord Raoul was roaring with laughter. Finally he calmed down enough to ask, "What sort of wedding gift do you call that, Sergeant Domitan?"

"The best gift of all, my lord - ourselves," Dom replied, his grin nearly splitting his face in half. Buri was shaking her head, chuckling.

"And you, Kel," Lord Raoul said, turning to her. "I thought you had more sense than this!"

Kel shrugged. "You told me to enjoy myself, my lord. And I've never been in an enormous box before."

"Get out," Raoul said, good-naturedly, and Kel grinned again. They all began to clamber out of the box. Dom clapped Kel on the shoulder.

"A job well done," he announced, smiling down at her, his blue eyes full of good humor. "Now what say we grab something to eat? Sitting in a box works up one's appetite dreadfully."

"That it does," Kel agreed, following him into the mess.

* * *

 **A/N:** So this is my first POTS fic and I'm pretty sure I fudged up some canon as to the dates and who's at Fort Steadfast for the wedding and whether or not Neal and Yuki are also getting married, but the plot works better if it's just Raoul and Buri's wedding, so perhaps we should leave it at that...?

Reviews would be great, and feedback is always, always, always appreciated!


End file.
